Commonly, a helmet for a firefighter or for an industrial, chemical, or emergency rescue worker has a crown and a brim, which projects forwardly from the crown and which may project in other directions from the crown. Often, the helmet is equipped with a pair of eye shields, one for each eye of a wearer, and each of the pair of eye shields is adapted to be manually moved between a storage position and a usage position. In the usage position, but not in the storage position, the eye shield projects downwardly so as to shield a given eye of a wearer against sparks, liquids, particles, and other objects striking the front of the eye shield.
An example of an eye shield, as described in the preceding paragraph, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,383,155 to Lester T. Bourke. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,383,155, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, each of the pair of eye shields is mounted to a helmet, beneath a brim projecting forwardly from a crown of the helmet, and each of the pair of eye shields is adapted to be manually flipped between the storage and usage positions and is stable in either of the storage and usage positions. Similar eye shields are available commercially from various sources including Morning Pride Manufacturing, L.L.C. of Dayton, Ohio. While these shields have performed well for their intended purpose, there is always room for improvement.
The high temperatures often experienced by rescue workers is one challenge faced by such eye shields and can affect the eye shields in both the storage and usage positions. In this regard, in some situations it is desirable that the eye shields not interfere with the vision of a rescue worker when placed in the storage position while experiencing elevated temperatures.